Rachelle Gardner

Never take a person’s dignity; it is worth everything to them, and nothing to you. ~Frank Barron I’ve been reading a terrific book, The Power of a Positive No. It’s by William Ury, one of the world’s most talented negotiators and author of several books including the negotiator’s bible, Getting to Yes. One of the…

(Encore presentation of a previous post.)There comes a time in every agent’s life when one of their clients needs to move on. Yep. We all get fired by an author at some point. It isn’t pleasant, but it’s a reality in business. What are some reasons writers opt to terminate their agency relationship? I think…

A Woman Reading by Claude Monet, 1872Everyone knows that agents and editors are reading practically all the time. We read queries and manuscripts of people hoping to secure representation, we read the manuscripts of our clients, and we read as many published books as possible – partly because we love reading, and partly because we…

of The Forest For the Trees by Betsy Lerner THANKS for entering the drawing, and for all your great tidbits of writing advice! If your name is NOT listed below, here’s where you can buy the book:Buy on AmazonBuy on Barnes and Noble I used a random number generator on Random.org and from that, drew…

The subject of ebooks is old news by now, practically passé. These days the talk is all about enhanced ebooks – a sort of multimedia reading experience that could be part game, part movie, part interactive learning experience, and no doubt, part advertising. Imagine reading a novel and being able to click on links throughout…

(See below for how to win a copy.) A decade ago, I read Betsy Lerner’s book The Forest for the Trees and it quickly rose to the top of my “best books ever” list. I read it a few times over the years, then lent it out so many times I lost track of my…

Over the last week or so, three clients have said to me, in completely unrelated conversations, “I want to be in this for the long haul.” It’s given me the opportunity to have some great discussions about what helps a writer accomplish this goal – and what can sabotage their efforts. It’s an important topic…

Me: Hello, may I speak with New Author? New Author: Speaking. Me: Hi, this is Rachelle Gardner. How are you today? NA: I’m fine…wait…did you say Rachelle Gardner? Me: Yep. NA: This is Kelly, isn’t it. Ha ha, very funny, Kelly. Me: Um, no. It’s Rachelle. Would you rather speak with Kelly? NA: No! Uh-oh.…

Last Update January, 2012 Please address all queries to: representation [at] booksandsuch [dot] com → If you intend to query ME specifically, please indicate that in your subject line or the first part of your email. → When you send a query to the correct email address, you will get an automated response, usually within…

I’m taking a few days off from the blog. Back soon!

In the past on this blog, we’ve discussed why we write in terms of our internal motivations. But what about our external goals? What would it look like to “arrive” as a writer? What are you striving toward? What is the definition of success? Tell us why you’re doing this… not just because you’re a…

Yesterday’s blog post asking writers what annoys them yielded lots of helpful comments, and a smattering of familiar complaints. Julie Geistfeld wrote that she wants a “reason” with her rejection letters. But, she says – she’s not asking for much – just “one word, maybe two” of explanation at the end of a form rejection.…

This weekend I taught at a writers’ conference and my topic was “Selling Your Stuff,” creating those all important sales materials for your book: The one-sentence summary.The query.The pitch paragraph.The elevator pitch.The proposal. I was talking to a room full of novelists, so I focused on fiction. I told them that the main elements of…

Right now I’m at the American Christian Fiction Writers conference in Indianapolis. This is one of my favorite events every year because it’s like a huge gathering of my friends. I’m sure there are a lot of writers here who are nervous, and there will be more than a few awkward moments. So today let’s…